ALEX FARBA

Actor Matt Damon and director George Clooney are all smiles at Venice 74

George Clooney has outdone himself with a superb satire of middle American suburbia in 1959.  But there are résonances of relevance to the America of today as well. Matt Damon, all but unrecognizable except for the nose, disappears into the skin of a pudgy middle class middle American psycopath  on a murderous death insurance scam with sister-in-jaw Julianne Moore, true to life as ever as his partner in crime.  Best scene of many good ones cleverly linked is the unwelcome visit of scumbag insurance  claim adjuster Oscar Isaac  (the Armenian bero of The Promise) "sniffing out" improprieties  in the claim on deceased sister who was  actually murdered before the film began.  Sparkling dialogue between isaac and Moore and gathering subtle tension make this the most memorable single scene in the entire  picture.

An ongoing subtext of the film is the surrealistic rampant racism of the local populace when a nice middle class Afro-American family moves in to this lily white community. Kudos also to juvenile actor  Noah Jupe, as the terrorized child who is a pawn in all the complex familial machinations and a central figure of the intrigue.   Absolute winner all around takes Mr. Clooney to the next level of savvy film direction. Bravo.

Ps: Beefed up bespectacled Matt Damon may be heading for another Oscar nomination with this radical departure from his hitherto clean scrubbed heroic images.

Alex Deleon.

Read more on Oscar Isaac "outstanding as sleazy insurance claim adjuster in Clooney's Suburbicon"